User Experience (UX) (Master)

Course Description

This course introduces the foundations of User Experience (UX) design for digital products and services. It focuses on applying a structured UX design process, including identifying user needs, developing design solutions, and evaluating designs using established UX methods and principles, supported by a practical group project and an oral examination that assess both practical outcomes and theoretical understanding.

Course Objectives

The aim of this course is to introduce foundational concepts, principles, methods, and techniques of User Experience (UX) design for digital products and services. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding and applying a structured UX design process, including identifying user needs and requirements, developing design solutions to satisfy those needs, and evaluating the resulting designs, with a strong focus on methods used in each phase. 

The course is complemented by a group project in which students apply the UX design process to a realistic design problem. Students will either analyze an existing digital product or service to identify potential improvements or enhancements or design a new digital product or service from scratch. In doing so, they identify UX issues based on established principles and heuristics, and (re-)design the digital product or service. The design process and outcomes are documented in a written report, in which students must document their contributions.

In addition, students complete an oral examination in which they present and discuss their project results and demonstrate their understanding of the theoretical and methodological foundations of UX design.

Learning Objectives

After successful participation in the course, students can:

• explain core UX concepts (design processes, usability, UX vs. UI, relevance of UX, …).
• explain key UX principles and heuristics.
• identify UX problems based on the principles.
• plan and apply a structured UX design process.
• conduct UX research: gather users’ needs with different methods (observations, interviews, …), analyze the data, model it (personas, flow model, …), and extract design requirements.
• conduct UX design: learn about design foundations (bottom-up vs. top-down, generative design, …) and apply design methods (sketching, storyboards, prototypes).
• conduct UX evaluation: learn about and perform data collection and analysis methods (quantitative and qualitative methods).
  
   

Course Facts

• Format: Lecture with integrated group project
• Course of Studies: Master BWL, Master DiBWL, Master Winfo
• Semester: every summer semester
• Language: English
• Scope: 6 CP
• Lecture Start: summer semester 2026
• Prior registration is required and becomes binding upon acceptance to the course.
• Limited to 12 participants and requires a short application via the registration form below (deadline: 23 March 2026).
• Grading: 
  Oral exam, group project: 30% group effort and 30% of individual work, must be passed; oral exam, 40% of the overall grade, must be passed.